OK so this is the first project I have ever funded with issues. Usually everything just happens on it own after I fill out a survey. For anyone else who makes the same mistake I did this little bit of info might help you out. If you are looking for shipping information, do NOT ask for it on the update threads! You need to send them a message directly via the "View Pledge" button. Once you click that you can then see a "messages" section. That's where you need to ask. They responded to me in 10 minutes personally. Not just with an automated response but with the actual tracking number. It seems my package is scheduled to arrive today! Thanks for the VERY quick response Czacha Games!

Superbacker

My honest review. I had received an update stating how some people were very unhappy, and I thought to myself it can not be that bad. I just tried assembling it, and unfortunately it is flimsy and impossible to assemble without some glue. This bizarre part is I have assembled 3 wooden inserts from Poland in the last month for Spartacus, Dixit, and Blood Rage. The inserts were far better priced but more importantly the pieces would "click" into each other. No glue was required. No scorch marks either. The assembly for this insert at this time in put on hold. I appreciate the communication from the company and the fact that they even put this project together. But respectfully, defending the quality of product makes us feel like we got bamboozled.

I finally received my insert in Ohio a few days ago and assembled it. Assembly is impossible without wood glue and clamps (I used heavy books on each side to press the pieces together). The wood on the larger pieces was definitely warped and felt cheap, and that made assembly far more challenging than it should have been. Also, as others have stated, the foam insert is definitely too big for either box. I used a razor blade to cut it to fit. After the glue dried, the insert components seemed stable enough to do their job. I gave it a day just to be safe. At this point, having read others' reviews, I got what I expected.

Once I transferred all the components to the insert, that's where I was starting to really get disappointed. I have sleeved cards, which TECHNICALLY all fit, but barely. But even without sleeved cards, the card tray doesn't have enough dividers or space to sort each card out by type. All the mini cards are lumped into one slot, and with sleeved cards, you can't divide each card out by type. It seems like the card tray was designed for the base game only. Also, all of the meeples and tokens specific to each player color are lumped together. Having to sort all the cards and colors out doesn't really save a lot of time with setting up the game, which is the primary reason I backed the insert in the first place, since the set-up time is already quite lengthy. The empty space where the character boards and leader powers, as well as the valhalla boards go seems like an afterthought.

All in all, I suppose the insert is acceptable. Is it better than the vacuum-formed insert that came with the box? Yes. Is it worth the price I paid and the effort to assemble it? Not really. I'm happy that I have a better solution for now, but if Broken Token or Meeple Realty come out with a Champions of Midgard insert, I'll replace it with theirs without question.

It's really frustrating that Czacha Games wants to ignore the feedback of its supporters. As a relatively new company, it's so incredibly important to take that feedback and use it to improve upon your future products. Your customer base is not exclusive to Poland. The majority of the backers are from the United States, and if they aren't satisfied with your product, and your response to their feedback, you're going to lose that support. You have from this backer.

Superbacker

More on the Meeple front - And this one is partly my bad. When they did the Expansions, they sent out new meeples with horned helmets to replace the old meeples. I kept both (you can never have enough spare parts) and there aren't slots for both. So that's my bad.

However, if you try to put the new meeples into the slot, they don't fit. There's not enough space for all the horned helmet meeples. So you have to put in all the normal meeples, plus the sets of horned helmet meeples go in a bag in another slot (I just found a place to tuck them in.

Superbacker

Further research - so I got most everything (most) assigned to a slot in the box, with the exception of perhaps the most important pieces, the player meeples. There appears to be one small slot for all those meeples, and they won't fit.

Anyone else find a place to put the player meeples other than the one slot with a meeple marker on it?

1. Mailing label was wrong for US delivery, its not surprising there are delivery issues.
2. Scorch marks on wood
3. Warped boards made assembly very challenging
4. Poor instructions. Given the complexity of the assembly, I'd expect the instructions to be more granular. Especially given some pieces could be assembled backwards accidentally.
5. Pieces were loose during assembly, like a first generation insert.
6. There were no solid instructions of what went where. While some sections had icons, I had several boxes that were blank. A simple guide to what went there on a one page insert would have solved this problem.
7. Foam cover was mis cut. How could the creator have missed this? Yes, I can manually cut it, but should I have to? and what if the foam tears.
8. Insert didn't flush up at the top. some sections were higher than others, with no explanation as to why.

All and all, I give this insert a solid letter grade of D. For the price I expected better quality.

Superbacker

Finished assembling the insert for my big box version. I'm satisfied with the insert, everything fits nicely.
Comments for others who will assemble this: 1. Wood glue and clamps are required. It is a loose fit for some pieces, so having the clamps helps a lot.
2. Follow the order number of the pieces.
3. For the foam, place the foam in the bottom section of the box and cut the exceed foam. Then place the foam in the bottom of the box

Superbacker

Superbacker

Received my insert last week here in Utah. Like most people have mentioned, the lack of quality of the insert was shocking considering the $65 I paid for this. On top of that, the creator’s unprofessional responses in this forum guaranteed that I will not be backing them again.

Superbacker

My suggestion at this point it to report the project to kickstarter (from the main campaign page) and contact Greyfox games with your complaints. Unfortunately, it appears as though the Creators view of "industry standard" may not be entirely consistent with some of the backers, and they are unwilling to discuss it.

For me, I still have yet to receive the product. I was in Wave 1, yet my product was shipped last week (seems to me they ignored the Waves all together) and it appears to be be stuck in New York, its been there for several days)

Superbacker

@creator Your update is pretty ridiculous. instead of addressing your customers opinions objectively you cover your ears and scream "all is good, you are all wrong". I am very displeased not only with the product, but with your childish attitude. We are your customers. We gave you our money so you could create your product. Don't call us liars, our opinions are not false rumors created to destroy you. Even if your good quality claims were true, how do you justify the foam not being of the size of the box? that right there show that you and your team didn't really care about controlling the quality of your product.

Other manufacturers of inserts give you way denser plywood and almost glue-less assembly at the same price point. There are lots of manufacturers that use the same material as you and have similar tolerances but come at a way cheaper price and are not marketed as "highest quality".

Superbacker

Superbacker

Hi Sweden backe here! I am suprised that some people have problems with the product!! I got mine product in Sweden in best quality and I am very pleased with the product!!! I would back another project of this company at any time!!! But it seems oversea transport logistic can be sometimes a real nightmare for both sites, backer and manager!

Superbacker

Wood feels cheap - it's perfect for us
There is no such thing in our folded space
Pieces bend when gluing - nothing like that happened to us
Price seems to be higher than the product justifies - we think that cana was attractive.

As you can see from our point of view, all of the above is false information. You feel like above, a few people too - for over 200 people the product is very good.

And I do not want to continue this topic anymore - because the author unfortunately can not comment, because it is immediately considered an attack. That's why I will not respond to such taunts anymore. because anyway I write anything will be turned against you by a few dozen of you. Sadly, unfortunately ...

Superbacker

What precise untruths have been said? I scrolled back through this and saw the same things I posted:

Wood feels cheap.
Space between the pieces means you can't friction-fit them and require glue.
Pieces bend when gluing.
Price seems to be higher than the product justifies.

All of those are either opinions or verifiable facts, and you respond to them by throwing accusations about slander. All I can say is you're not coming off as the set-upon victim you seem to see yourself as.

@Nullpunkt: Hi, thanks for your post. As for the tone of our response, I understand that it is okay if we as an author are offended and we must listen to untrue sentences about ourselves? And how about we say it out loud then it's wrong anyway? So it turns out that everyone can insult us and say untruth, and we should take it all and have nothing to say? We are a professional publishing house and that is why we will not pass such untrue information silent, which is why we wrote it out loud. We will not let ourselves be offended, because we do not offend any of you either. And each of you can have your feelings about our product, but we will not accept the untruth.

Superbacker

@Scott Mohnkern, I do want to say that as a proud owner of several Insert Here inserts, they may be foam, but they are professionally made and more durable than you think. I would definitely recommend them so long as you don't need them soon (the guy only has two or three people making them and is a bit crotchety about people asking for status updates. It's kind of a "it's done when it's done" sort of deal. The final product is worth it though).

Superbacker

@CzachaGames, boy that was the wrong tone to take with that Update. I know English is a second language, but that kind of accusatory and vaguely threatening rhetoric is not what I would expect of a professional company.

As for the insert, mine arrived here in east coast USA a few days ago. It's.... fine. It works. The wood is cheaper than most other inserts I've used (BrokenToken/MeepleReality), and the cuts aren't as precise. There's a lot more play in how they fit together making it difficult to glue. I also had a massive issue with the wood bending and buckling during gluing, resulting in me having to break out the painters tape and clamps to get these things to hold in the correct position until the glue dried.

After that, though, it holds up fine. I just finished gluing this weekend, so I'll sort it into the box tonight or tomorrow and see how it fits. I'll update when I do.

But seriously, watch your tone. That's the kind of passive aggressive nonsense that makes me very wary about supporting you in the future.

Superbacker

@Mike - I'm sure it was in response to my post here this morning, and my contacting Grey Fox Games regarding the issues that exist with this project.

It is entirely possible that what the creator here intended to deliver in terms of quality is exactly what they delivered, and they were indeed surprised by the expectations of those outside of Poland.

However, that doesn't excuse the mailing question. He claims that they weren't aware of the sending of tracking numbers as a matter of business practice. The vast majority of Kickstarter projects I have backed (over 100) have sent out tracking numbers when the product was shipped. The exceptions normally involve less expensive products, or other special circumstances.

With respect to the surprise of expectation of quality, a simple survey of other insert manufacturers globally would have established what is considered "industry standard" for these products (I can make a good argument insert creation for games is now an industry in and of itself).

I chalk this situation up to the manufacturer not really being aware of the global landscape. Which honestly, I can understand at some level.

I agree with you for the amount paid for this product, I would expect much higher quality. I went to Top Shelf Gamer and found a foam core insert for Champions of Midgard for $38.95 (Compared with roughly $60 that I spent here). Yes its foam, but it fits in the box, and looks to be good quality. I also found some inserts on Etsy that seemed to be the quality that I'd expect for the price.

My apologies if I offended the Creator. My intent was to point out the variety of issues that have been raised, in hopes that you would address them.

I look forward to getting my tracking number, and confirming the quality of the product is as you described.

The latest update is quite passive aggressive in its tone. Not quite what I expected to see from a company that claims to be professional.

From my side... what did I expect? For a price of £40 in total I expected a product that is made of quality wood, that either doesn't require gluing together or is easy to glue together and that fits the box without any issues whatsoever.

What I got is:
* cheapest wood you could probably get away with (very flimsy and prone to bend, literally bent itself within 30 seconds of taking it out of the frame)
* bad fit that meant I had to do many parts one by one, making sure that the parts don't have a chance to move until the glue caught on which meant that assembly time was much longer than I planned and which meant I got to inhale the wood glue for much longer than I would want to
* an insert that isn't cut correctly to accommodate all expansion content. Granted the insert itself doesn't stick out of the box and has space for the main board and manual, but there is no place to put the expansion boards. Which means that after putting everything in, it sticks out by about 2 millimeters.

All in all for £40 I am not impressed. That's the problem. You charged as much as quality inserts do but you didn't deliver on the price. Yes the insert is usable, maybe even acceptable. But that's about as far as you can call it. And certainly not worth the price you asked for it.

Superbacker

First, I know this isn't your product, its a third party product, however they are claiming to be the "official insert" and given the fact your logo appears all over their Kickstarter project, I thought you should know.

I have yet to receive my product. I am an experienced Kickstarter backer, and completely aware of delays, but there situation here has become pretty awful, and I thought you should know what's going on.

1. The Creator has gone "dark." They aren't posting to the project anymore, not responding to emails. Their last update was on March 9th (more than a month ago, for a project that is two months over due). Their last response in the comments section of the project dates back to January.

2. No tracking information or communication. The Creator claims to have sent everything out, but there are no tracking details, and many people have not received their product.

3. There appears to have been a significant labeling mistake when printing mailing labels. For delivery to the US, they did STATE CITY ZIP as opposed to CITY STATE ZIP. The result is, I expect, most of the US delivery is hopeless lost in the United States Postal Delivery System as not being able to be delivered. Due to the lack of tracking numbers, there's no way to establish what's going on.

4. The quality of this insert appears to be incredibly poor. For a company that produces such a stellar product (I love Champions of Midgard, and own all the expansions) to authorize a company to put out a substandard insert seems ill founded.
If you didn't license this company, I'd suggest you contact them, and tell them to not list themselves as the official insert.
If you did license them, I'd suggest you contact them regarding the situation, in order to protect your own reputation.

Superbacker

to say this insert is of the lowest quality would be an understatement. the wood is cheap and flimsy, the cuts inaccurate and loose which makes trying to glue pieces together a nightmare since pieces keep moving. I have bought many inserts from many providers (broken token, go7gaming and meeple realty) and I have never seen an insert this bad. ans if this wasnt enough, foam doesn't fit either box... where was the quality control? I'm surprised Gray Fox is putting its name anywhere near this product. FAIL

Superbacker

I got mine over here in the DFW area. I see what people are saying about the foam, it doesn't fit any box (not even the kickstarter box). The wood is quite a bit softer and more flexible than I'm used to with inserts. Given those two things I'm still satisfied with the insert I just hope everyone's arrives safely!

Superbacker

Apparently mine came in on Saturday here in Colorado. I only know cause my leasing office called today to pick up my damn package. Thanks, but not thanks for no tracking? My USPS informed delivery couldn't even pick it up, cause the address is wackadoodle! I see what others were saying about the format now. It's way off!! I'm truly surprised I actually received mine. The city, state, country, and zip are just formatted way wrong. If you haven't received yours yet, it's cause it's either floating through some random post offices, or it's been returned. Maybe, that address is one of the weirdest I've ever seen. This shipping is about to turn into a fiasco!